Oral Cancer News
Compiled by The Oral Cancer Foundation

lung cancer

Abstract

Background Lung cancer kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year. Whereas several human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated cancers have been identified, the role of HPV in lung carcinogenesis remains controversial.

Methods We selected 450 lung cancer patients from an Italian population–based case–control study, the Environment and Genetics in Lung Cancer Etiology. These patients were selected from those with an adequate number of unstained tissue sections and included all those who had never smoked and a random sample of the remaining patients. We used real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test specimens from these patients for HPV DNA, specifically for E6 gene sequences from HPV16 and E7 gene sequences from HPV18. We also tested a subset of 92 specimens from all never-smokers and a random selection of smokers for additional HPV types by a PCR-based test for at least 54 mucosal HPV genotypes. DNA was extracted from ethanol- or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue under strict PCR clean conditions. The prevalence of HPV in tumor tissue was investigated.

Results Specimens from 399 of 450 patients had adequate DNA for analysis. Most patients were current (220 patients or 48.9%) smokers, and 92 patients (20.4%) were women. When HPV16 and HPV18 type–specific primers were used, two specimens were positive for HPV16 at low copy number but were negative on additional type-specific HPV16 testing. Neither these specimens nor the others examined for a broad range of HPV types were positive for any HPV type.

Conclusions When DNA contamination was avoided and state-of-the-art highly sensitive HPV DNA detection assays were used, we found no evidence that HPV was associated with lung cancer in a representative Western population. Our results provide the strongest evidence to date to rule out a role for HPV in lung carcinogenesis in Western populations.

The global burden of cancer continues to increase largely becauseof the aging and growth of the world population alongside anincreasing adoption of cancer-causing behaviors, particularlysmoking, in economically developing countries. Based on theGLOBOCAN 2008 estimates, about 12.7 million cancer cases and7.6 million cancer deaths are estimated to have occurred in2008; of these, 56% of the cases and 64% of the deaths occurredin the economically developing world. Breast cancer is the mostfrequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancerdeath among females, accounting for 23% of the total cancercases and 14% of the cancer deaths. Lung cancer is the leadingcancer site in males, comprising 17% of the total new cancercases and 23% of the total cancer deaths. Breast cancer is nowalso the leading cause of cancer death among females in economicallydeveloping countries, a shift from the previous decade duringwhich the most common cause of cancer death was cervical cancer.Further, the mortality burden for lung cancer among femalesin developing countries is as high as the burden for cervicalcancer, with each accounting for 11% of the total female cancerdeaths. Although overall cancer incidence rates in the developingworld are half those seen in the developed world in both sexes,the overall cancer mortality rates are generally similar. Cancersurvival tends to be poorer in developing countries, most likelybecause of a combination of a late stage at diagnosis and limitedaccess to timely and standard treatment. A substantial proportionof the worldwide burden of cancer could be prevented throughthe application of existing cancer control knowledge and byimplementing programs for tobacco control, vaccination (forliver and cervical cancers), and early detection and treatment,as well as public health campaigns promoting physical activityand a healthier dietary intake. Clinicians, public health professionals,and policy makers can play an active role in accelerating theapplication of such interventions globally.

The global burden of cancer continues to increase largely because of the aging and growth of the world population alongside an increasing adoption of cancer-causing behaviors, particularly smoking, in economically developing countries. Based on the GLOBOCAN 2008 estimates, about 12.7 million cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths are estimated to have occurred in 2008; of these, 56% of the cases and 64% of the deaths occurred in the economically developing world. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among females, accounting for 23% of the total cancer cases and 14% of the cancer deaths. Lung cancer is the leading cancer site in males, comprising 17% of the total new cancer cases and 23% of the total cancer deaths. Breast cancer is now also the leading cause of cancer death among females in economically developing countries, a shift from the previous decade during which the most common cause of cancer death was cervical cancer. Further, the mortality burden for lung cancer among females in developing countries is as high as the burden for cervical cancer, with each accounting for 11% of the total female cancer deaths. OCF Although overall cancer incidence rates in the developing world are half those seen in the developed world in both sexes, the overall cancer mortality rates are generally similar. Cancer survival tends to be poorer in developing countries, most likely because of a combination of a late stage at diagnosis and limited access to timely and standard treatment. A substantial proportion of the worldwide burden of cancer could be prevented through the application of existing cancer control knowledge and by implementing programs for tobacco control, vaccination (for liver and cervical cancers), and early detection and treatment, as well as public health campaigns promoting physical activity and a healthier dietary intake. Clinicians, public health professionals, and policy makers can play an active role in accelerating the application of such interventions globally. CA Cancer J Clin 2011. � 2011 American Cancer Society, Inc.

The latest study demonstrating that dogs can sniff out cancer has confirmed the notion that a specific cancer smell does exist, and has added fuel to the idea of developing a test based on odor.

Previous studies have reported on dogs that can detect lung and breast cancer from breath samples, and there has been anecdotal evidence suggesting that dogs can detect melanoma, bladder, and ovarian cancers.

In this latest study, published online January 31 in Gut, a Labrador retriever was trained over several months to sniff out colorectal cancer in breath and watery stool samples.

Hideto Sonoda, MD, and colleagues from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, report that this dog was then tested with samples obtained from colorectal cancer patients and from volunteers, some of whom had gastrointestinal problems such as ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease.

The dog correctly identified cancer in 33 of 36 breath tests and in 37 of 38 stool tests. This equates to 95% accuracy overall for the breath test and 98% accuracy overall for the stool test, the researchers report.

The highest detection rates were among samples taken from patients with early-stage cancer, they add. Samples taken from smokers and from people with other gastrointestinal diseases, which might be expected to mask or interfere with cancer odors, did not appear to confuse the dog.

They are not suggesting using dogs in clinical practice, however. They point out that training the dog was expensive and time-consuming, and that ability and concentration vary between individual dogs and even the same dog on different days. OCF The dog’s concentration tends to decrease during the hot summer season; hence, they conducted their test between November and early June.

What they do propose is that this research could be used to develop cancer detection tests based on “odor materials.”

This would involve identifying the cancer-specific volatile organic compounds (VOC) that are being detected by dogs using chemical analysis, and then developing an early cancer detection sensor that would substitute for the dog, they explain.

There has already been some work conducted on VOC in exhaled breath (using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy) for the early detection of breast and lung cancer, they note, although they add that this work is still preliminary.

“We hope that the results of the present study will provide encouragement for the development of cancer detection and solving the biological character of cancer using odor material,” Dr. Sonoda and colleagues conclude.

Background Lung cancer kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year. Whereas several human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated cancers have been identified, the role of HPV in lung carcinogenesis remains controversial.

Methods We selected 450 lung cancer patients from an Italian population–based case–control study, the Environment and Genetics in Lung Cancer Etiology. These patients were selected from those with an adequate number of unstained tissue sections and included all those who had never smoked and a random sample of the remaining patients. We used real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test specimens from these patients for HPV DNA, specifically for E6 gene sequences from HPV16 and E7 gene sequences from HPV18. We also tested a subset of 92 specimens from all never-smokers and a random selection of smokers for additional HPV types by a PCR-based test for at least 54 mucosal HPV genotypes. DNA was extracted from ethanol- or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue under strict PCR clean conditions. The prevalence of HPV in tumor tissue was investigated.

Results Specimens from 399 of 450 patients had adequate DNA for analysis. Most patients were current (220 patients or 48.9%) smokers, and 92 patients (20.4%) were women. OCF. When HPV16 and HPV18 type–specific primers were used, two specimens were positive for HPV16 at low copy number but were negative on additional type-specific HPV16 testing. Neither these specimens nor the others examined for a broad range of HPV types were positive for any HPV type.

Conclusions When DNA contamination was avoided and state-of-the-art highly sensitive HPV DNA detection assays were used, we found no evidence that HPV was associated with lung cancer in a representative Western population. Our results provide the strongest evidence to date to rule out a role for HPV in lung carcinogenesis in Western populations.

CHAPEL HILL — So, now R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company wants to help smokers “break free” from tobacco? That statement should make parents, health care providers and smokers nervous.

Last month, Reynolds promoted its Camel Snus (a “spit-free” tobacco pouch) with advertisements in national magazines that read “If you’ve decided to quit tobacco use, we support you,” under a large “2011 Smoke-free Resolution” banner. Reynolds then offered its smoke-free snus as the solution.

For smokers, the majority of whom try to quit every year, the message should be to quit tobacco use, not to substitute one form of cancer for another. No safe form of tobacco use exists. Smokers who try tobacco snus products are at high risk of becoming addicted to both cigarettes and snus, thus continuing or even adding to their risk for lung, bladder, breast, cervical, oral and pancreatic cancer.

In addition to running these misleading ads in People, Time and Rolling Stone, R.J. Reynolds is continuing a long-standing practice of targeting vulnerable populations such as young people, African-Americans and gays and lesbians.

Last year, research in the medical journal Pediatrics implicated Reynolds’ “Camel No. 9” campaign in an increase in smoking among young teenage girls.

The tobacco industry has long targeted African-Americans by focusing on marketing and so-called “corporate social responsibility” strategies to buy favor with civil rights organizations. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco estimated that the approximately $25 million in tobacco industry corporate philanthropy that funded African-American community groups, when divided by the number of premature deaths from tobacco in black communities, meant that each African-American death was traded for $555 in corporate support.

In December, a court in Massachusetts found Lorillard, Inc., liable fortargeting black teenagers with free samples of menthol cigarettes.

Now, Reynolds has begun targeting gay and lesbian newspapers across the country.

Our own research at UNC-Chapel Hill shows that gays and lesbians are 50 percent to 100 percent more likely to smoke and thus to die much earlier from tobacco-related diseases. We recently conducted surveys in gay and lesbian bars and Pride Festivals in West Virginia in which 45 percent of those surveyed reported using a tobacco product. These rates of tobacco, cigarettes and snus use are alarming and likely even higher among transgender populations.

Researchers have documented that industry-designed youth prevention programs actually increase youth susceptibility to trying cigarettes. New campaigns that promise a smoke-free life by promoting other addictive tobacco products will likely keep more people addicted to tobacco.

Smokers who want to quit for real should talk to their health care providers, make a quit plan and call the free Quitline at 1-800-QUITNOW or visit www.BecomeAnEX.org.

The evidence is clear: advertisements from the tobacco industry sell death, half-truths and promote health inequalities. Federal judges have let stand industry racketeering convictions resulting from conspiracy to hide health consequences of smoking. Smokers’ resolutions to quit should not be co-opted into deeper addiction by industry advertising.

Taking aspirin over a long period of time can substantially cut the risk of dying from a variety of cancers, according to a study showing that the benefit is independent of dose, gender, or smoking.

It also found that the protective effect increases with age.

The study is by Peter Rothwell, MD, PhD, FRCP, of John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, and colleagues, and has been published online by the journal the Lancet.

A previous study by the same authors showed that low doses of aspirin (75-300 milligrams) reduced the number of cases of colorectal cancer by a quarter and deaths caused by the disease by more than a third. The latest study confirms the earlier results and concludes that similar effects can be shown for other types of cancers.

The study looked at eight trials examining the effects of a daily dose of aspirin on preventing heart attacks involving 25,570 patients, 674 of whom died from cancer. They showed a 21% reduction in the number of deaths caused by cancer among those who had taken aspirin, compared with people who had not.

The investigation also showed that the benefits of taking aspirin increased over time. After five years, death rates were shown to fall by 34% for all cancers and by 54% for gastrointestinal cancers.

Participants were also followed up after 20 years, by which point 1,634 of the original participants had died as a direct result of cancer. This 20-year follow-up established that the risk of cancer death remained 20% lower among those who had been allocated aspirin than those in the control group for all solid cancers, including lung, prostate, brain, bladder, and kidney cancers, and by 35% for gastrointestinal cancers.

The fall in the risk of death broke down according to individual types of cancer:

Reductions in pancreatic, stomach, and brain cancers were difficult to quantify because of smaller numbers of deaths, the authors say.

Protective Effect Increases Over Time

The protective effect of taking low doses of aspirin varied according to the type of cancer and how long aspirin had been taken, the authors found. For instance, it only became apparent after about five years for esophageal, pancreatic, brain, and lung cancer; about 10 years for stomach and colorectal cancer; and about 15 years for prostate cancer.

Any benefit for lung and esophageal cancer was limited to adenocarcinomas, which are most commonly seen in nonsmokers.

Should Middle-Aged People Take Aspirin?

Previous research has linked aspirin with reductions in heart attacks and strokes, but doctors have been wary when recommending whether people should take daily doses of aspirin because of the risk of gastric bleeding. Rothwell says, “The size of the effect on cancer I think is such that it does more or less drown out those sorts of risks.”

However, he says the authors of the study do not make recommendations on taking aspirin based on this study.

Peter Elwood, MD, DSc, FRCP, an expert on aspirin from Cardiff University who was not involved in the study, says that doctors are often reluctant to recommend aspirin because “the risk of causing a bleed by what the doctor prescribes is going to be uppermost in a doctor’s mind.” A patient might interpret the risk differently, he says.

Rothwell and his colleagues say that more research is required, in particular for the effect on breast cancer and other cancers affecting women as well as the effect on patients beyond the 20-year period. The results of further trials are expected to be published in 2011.

‘Promising Results’

Ed Yong, head of health information and evidence at Cancer Research UK, says in an emailed statement: “These promising results build on a large body of evidence suggesting that aspirin could reduce the risk of developing or dying from many different types of cancer. While earlier studies suggested that you only get benefits from taking high doses of aspirin, this new study tells us that even small doses reduce the risk of dying from cancer provided it is taken for at least five years.

“In addition to the effect on cancer death, aspirin can affect our health in other ways, such as reducing the risk of stroke but increasing the chances of bleeding from the gut. We await trials results expected next year to learn more about these different effects.

“We encourage anyone interested in taking aspirin on a regular basis to talk to their [doctor] first.”

Smoking cessation funding has been cut to its lowest level since 1999.

Despite 20% of the population smoking, the same percentage that were in 2006, the current economic climate and other factors have caused states to reduce funding for stop smoking initiatives.

Around $517 million has been allocated in the fiscal year 2011, which is down 9.2% from the previous year, and 28% less than in 2009.

Alarm

Public health groups are alarmed that people who are looking to quit smoking may now not get the help that they need. There are around 46 million smokers across America, all at an increased risk of developing serious health problems like lung and mouth cancer, and heart disease. Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable death in the US and is responsible for one in five deaths. About 8.6 million people suffer from smoking-related lung and heart disease. Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks in comparison with non-smokers.

Most important step

The US Surgeon General has said, “Smoking cessation (stopping smoking) represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives.”

Quitting smoking can be difficult. Some smokers find that the nicotine addictions make it too hard to give up. For others, the mental cravings to smoke are a greater problem. Research has shown that quitting smoking is more ‘mind over matter’ for many people, and that overcoming psychological desires to smoke cigarettes is a large part of giving up. Some smokers find that the anti-smoking medication Champix helps with their smoking cessation efforts.

Penthouse founder Bob Guccione died on Wednesday in Texas after a long bout with lung cancer, his family said. He was 79 years old.

Guccione also suffered from oral cancer, the Oral Cancer Foundation says. “My cancer was only a tiny tumor about the size of an almond at the base of my tongue,” he explained in an intervie with New York Magazine. “The cure is probably every bit as bad as the disease. It’s affected my ability to swallow . . . the mobility of my tongue . . . it makes it very difficult for me to talk…”

The Wall Street Journal reported his family said in a statement Guccione died at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano.

Guccione created Penthouse in 1965, immediately setting it apart from Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine through its more graphic photos of unclothed women and less reliance on the written word. If Playboy was the publishing world’s version of the Beatles, Penthouse was the Rolling Stones.

“Unlike his future arch-rival Hugh Hefner, he did not suffer from sexual shyness and repression,” John Heidenry, a former Penthouse Forum editor wrote in his book “What Wild Ecstasy.”

“He liked girls, pure and simple, like any average healthy Italian boy from New Jersey, and he was no virgin.”

Guccione diversified into other magazines, movies and other ventures and his fortune at one time was estimated at $400 million but Penthouse’s popularity waned with the advent of Internet pornography.

Louis Bantle, the former marketing director and chairman of U.S. Tobacco, died earlier this month at the age of 81 from emphysema and lung cancer. Bantle was most famous for convincing millions of teenagers to dip.

The WSJ chroniclesBantle’s work from the 1960s through the 1990s, during which time he helped turn snuff into a billion-dollar business and tripled its use among 18-24 year-olds.

“We must sell the use of tobacco in the mouth and appeal to young people,” he said, according to the minutes of a marketing meeting in 1968. “We hope to start a fad.”

“If you go to high school in Texas and you don’t have a can of snuff in your pocket, you’re out,” Mr. Bantle told Forbes in 1980.

Your legacy will live on, Mr. Bantle.

Original Article from the WSJ:

Louis Bantle made dipping snuff into a national pastime.

Mr. Bantle, who died Oct. 10 at age 81 after a long struggle with lung cancer and emphysema, was chairman of United States Tobacco Co. for two decades beginning in 1973, a period that saw an explosion in snuff’s popularity, particularly among younger users.

In the 1970s, sales of the company’s Skoal and Copenhagen tobaccos were relatively small and concentrated in the upper Midwest, where Scandinavian woodcutters had spread the smokeless habit in the 19th century. Mr. Bantle ramped up advertising featuring football and rodeo star Walt Garrison and other rugged athletes.

He introduced a series of “starter” products, including fruit-flavored tobacco. Skoal Bandits were originally touted with the slogan “Take a pouch instead of a puff.”

The result was annual revenue that jumped to $1 billion from $100 million in two decades and a vastly larger group of users. About 9% of U.S. adult males between 18 and 24 regularly used smokeless tobacco in 1991, up from about 3% in 1970, according to a 2002 Centers for Disease Control report.

Snuff-dipping spread to areas of the country that had never had a market for the product. “If you go to high school in Texas and you don’t have a can of snuff in your pocket, you’re out,” Mr. Bantle told Forbes in 1980.

A self-described recovering alcoholic who used Alcoholics Anonymous to conquer his addiction, Mr. Bantle said he was shocked at the brutal treatment of alcoholics he witnessed on a business trip to Russia in 1988.

After retiring in 1993, he established the International Institute for Alcohol Education and Training to introduce AA’s 12-step model to Russia. The institute has helped foster other AA groups across Russia—more than 300, according to a 2007 Forbes article.

Mr. Bantle donated to other substance-abuse causes and founded an annual pro-am golf tournament in Greenwich, Conn., to fund charities.

A graduate of Syracuse University, Mr. Bantle served in the U.S. Marines during the Korean War. In 1962, he joined U.S. Tobacco, where he became marketing director.

“We must sell the use of tobacco in the mouth and appeal to young people,” he said, according to the minutes of a marketing meeting in 1968. “We hope to start a fad.”

After he became company head in 1973, U.S. Tobacco partnered with Swedish Tobacco Co. to import Borkum Riff pipe tobacco to the U.S. The successful introduction helped fund a national ad campaign for Copenhagen and Skoal that spurred sales, which grew 20% to 25% annually for a decade. By the late 1980s, U.S. Tobacco held more than 80% of the wet-snuff market; today, under Altria Group Inc., it continues to far outsell its rivals.

While shedding some of U.S. Tobacco’s non-smokeless businesses, including pens and dog food, Mr. Bantle expanded into others, such as the Columbia Crest and Chateau Ste. Michelle wineries. In 1985, the company was named to the Fortune 500.

Sales gains were temporarily halted after the family of a teenager who died of oral cancer unsuccessfully sued U.S. Tobacco in 1986. Health warnings were mandated for snuff packages the same year.

C. Everett Koop, the U.S. Surgeon General at the time, crusaded against smokeless tobacco and sparred with Mr. Bantle. In a memoir, Dr. Koop described him: “Looking like a courtier of Louis XIV, [he] took an antique sterling-silver snuff box out of his pocket and tucked some tobacco between his lower gum and cheek.” More often, though, Mr. Bantle smoked Kools.

Smoking was encouraged at a tobacco museum Mr. Bantle created at U.S. Tobacco’s Greenwich headquarters. On exhibit were cigar-store Indians, spittoons, hookahs and a three-foot Meerschaum pipe with a relief carving of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.